“President Trump is the most pro-gay president in American history. I can prove it.”
— Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence, in a video released by the Log Cabin Republicans, Aug. 19, 2020
Grenell is a longtime spinmeister who under President Trump became a controversial ambassador to Germany. (The influential Der Spiegel magazine described him as “politically isolated” after he was accused of interfering in domestic politics.) He was briefly the acting director of national intelligence and now advises the Republican National Committee.
He makes the provocative claim that Trump — whose administration is often criticized by gay rights advocates as anti-gay — is actually the most pro-gay president in U.S. history. But the core of the video is actually a lengthy attack on Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, as anti-gay.
The video is a stew of misleading timelines, out-of-context quotes and claims easily debunked. Let’s take a tour through it. Continue reading.